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Marvel Studios: The Avengers
The Avengers, (Stylized as Marvel's The Avengers Assemble) is a 2012 American superhero film, that was created and produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Motion Pictures, and is based off on the superhero team pf the same name in the comics. They are a group of Marvel superheroes consisting of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye under the Avengers Initiative headed by Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. They were formed to fight an unexpected enemy, which was Loki and his alien "Chitauri Army" army who came to conquer Earth. Plot The Asgardian Loki encounters the Other, the leader of an extraterrestrial race known as the Chitauri. In exchange for retrieving the Tesseract, a powerful energy source of unknown potential, The Other promises Loki a Chitauri army with which he can subjugate the Earth. Nick Fury, director of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and his lieutenant Agent Maria Hill arrive at a remote research facility during an evacuation, where physicist Dr. Erik Selvig is leading a research team experimenting on the Tesseract. Agent Phil Coulson explains that the object has begun radiating an unusual form of energy. The Tesseract suddenly activates and opens a wormhole, allowing Loki to reach Earth. Loki takes the Tesseract and uses his scepter to enslave Selvig and several agents, including Clint Barton, to aid him in his getaway. In response to the attack, Fury reactivates the "Avengers Initiative". Agent Natasha Romanoff is sent to Calcutta to recruit Dr. Bruce Banner to trace the Tesseract through its gamma radiation emissions. Coulson visits Tony Stark to have him review Selvig's research, and Fury approaches Steve Rogers with an assignment to retrieve the Tesseract. While Barton steals iridium needed to stabilize the Tesseract's power, Loki causes a distraction in Stuttgart leading to a confrontation with Rogers, Stark, and Romanoff that ends with Loki's surrender. While Loki is being escorted to S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor, his adoptive brother, arrives and frees him hoping to convince him to abandon his plan and return to Asgard. After a confrontation with Stark and Rogers, Thor agrees to take Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying aircraft carrier, the Helicarrier. There Loki is imprisoned while scientists Banner and Stark attempt to locate the Tesseract. The Avengers become divided, both over how to approach Loki and the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. plans to harness the Tesseract to develop weapons as a deterrent against hostile extraterrestrials. As the group argues, Barton and Loki's other possessed agents attack the Helicarrier, disabling its engines in flight and causing Banner to transform into the Hulk. Stark and Rogers try to restart the damaged engine, and Thor attempts to stop the Hulk's rampage. Romanoff fights Barton, and knocks him unconscious, breaking Loki's mind control. Loki escapes after killing Coulson and ejecting Thor from the airship, while the Hulk falls to the ground after attacking a S.H.I.E.L.D. fighter jet. Fury uses Coulson's death to motivate the Avengers into working as a team. Stark and Rogers realize that simply defeating them will not be enough for Loki; he needs to overpower them publicly to validate himself as ruler of Earth. Loki uses the Tesseract, in conjunction with a device Selvig built, to open a wormhole above Stark Tower to the Chitauri fleet in space, launching his invasion. The Avengers rally in defense of New York City, the wormhole's location, but quickly realize they will be overwhelmed as wave after wave of Chitauri descend upon Earth. Banner transforms into the Hulk, and together with Rogers, Stark, Thor, Barton and Romanoff, they battle the Chitauri while evacuating civilians. The Hulk goes after Loki and beats him into submission. Romanoff makes her way to the wormhole's generator where Selvig, freed of Loki's control, reveals that Loki's scepter can be used to close the wormhole. Meanwhile, Fury's superiors attempt to end the invasion by launching a nuclear missile at Manhattan. Stark intercepts the missile and takes it through the wormhole toward the Chitauri fleet. The missile detonates, destroying the Chitauri's mothership and leaving their forces disabled on Earth. Stark's suit runs out of power and he falls back through the wormhole, but the Hulk saves him from crashing to the ground. Romanoff deactivates the wormhole to prevent further invasion. In the aftermath, Thor returns Loki and the Tesseract to Asgard. Fury expresses confidence that the Avengers will return if and when they are needed. In the first of two post-credits scenes, the Other confers with his master about the attack on Earth and humanity's resistance; in the second, the Avengers eat in silence at a shawarma restaurant. Cast * Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man: * Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America: * Mark Ruffalo as Dr. Bruce Banner / The Hulk: * Chris Hemsworth as Thor Odinson: * Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow: Production Development Avi Arad, the CEO of Marvel Studios, first announced plans to develop the film in April 2005, after Marvel Enterprises declared independence by allying with Merrill Lynch to produce a slate of films that would be distributed by Paramount Pictures.45 Marvel discussed their plans in a brief presentation to Wall Street analysts; the studio's intention was to release individual films for the main characters—to establish their identities and familiarize audiences with them—before merging the characters together in a crossover film. Screenwriter Zak Penn, who wrote The Incredible Hulk (2008), was hired by Marvel Studios to write the film in June 2007.47 In the wake of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Marvel negotiated with the Writers Guild of America to ensure that it could create films based on its comic book counterparts, including Captain America, Ant-Man and The Avengers.48 After the successful release of Iron Man (2008) in May, the company set a July 2011 release date for The Avengers.49 In September 2008, Marvel Studios reached an agreement with Paramount—an extension of a previous partnership—which gave the company distribution rights for five future Marvel films. Casting began in October 2008 with Downey's signing. Though Don Cheadle was also reported to be reprising his Iron Man 2 role of War Machine for The Avengers, he later stated that he did not think the character would appear in the film.51 At the same time, two major prospects occurred for Marvel; Jon Favreau was brought in as an executive producer for the film, and the company signed a long-term lease with Raleigh Studios to produce three other big-budget films—Iron Man 2, Thor (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)—at their Manhattan Beach, California complex. Lou Ferrigno, who voiced Hulk in The Incredible Hulk, stated that he would be involved in the film.53 In February 2009, Samuel L. Jackson signed a nine-picture deal with Marvel Entertainment to play Nick Fury in Iron Man 2 and other films.40 In September 2009, Edward Norton, who played Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk stated that he was open to returning in the film. The next month, executive producer Jon Favreau stated that he would not direct the film, but would "definitely have input and a say". Favreau also expressed concerns, stating, "It's going to be hard, because I was so involved in creating the world of Iron Man, and Iron Man is very much a tech-based hero, and then with Avengers you're going to be introducing some supernatural aspects because of Thor. . . . Mixing the two of those works very well in the comic books, but it's going to take a lot of thoughtfulness to make that all work and not blow the reality that we've created". In March 2009, actress Scarlett Johansson replaced Emily Blunt in portraying Natasha Romanoff in Iron Man 2, a deal that subsequently attached her to The Avengers. The female superhero Wasp was included in an earlier draft of the script written before Johansson's involvement.56 The following day, Marvel announced that the film's release date had been pushed back to May 4, 2012, almost a full year later.57 Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston joined the film's cast in June, returning as Thor and Loki, respectively. In July 2009, Penn talked about the crossover process, stating, "My job is to kind of shuttle between the different movies and make sure that finally we're mimicking that comic book structure where all of these movies are connected. . . There's just a board that tracks 'Here's where everything that happens in this movie overlaps with that movie'. . . I'm pushing them to do as many animatics as possible to animate the movie, to draw boards so that we're all working off the same visual ideas. But the exigencies of production take first priority". In January 2010, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige was asked if it would be difficult to meld the fantasy of Thor with the high-tech science fiction in Iron Man and The Avengers. "No," he said, "because we're doing the Jack Kirby/Stan Lee/Walt Simonson/J. Michael Straczynski Thor. We're not doing the blow-the-dust-off-of-the-old-Norse-book-in-your-library Thor. And in the Thor of the Marvel Universe, there's a race called the Asgardians. And we're linked through this Tree of Life that we're unaware of. It's real science, but we don't know about it yet. The 'Thor' movie is about teaching people that". In March, it was reported that Penn had completed the first draft of the script, and that Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada and Avengers comic-book writer Brian Michael Bendis had received copies. Also in March, Chris Evans accepted an offer to play Captain America in three films including The Avengers. In April 2010, Variety reported that Joss Whedon was close to completing a deal to direct the film, and to rework Penn's script. Music * Main Article: The Avengers Soundtrack Notes * Mark Ruffalo replaced Edward Norton from The Incredible Hulk. * The world premiere was held at the El Capitan Theatre on April 11, 2012. * The film broke numerous box office records, including the biggest opening weekend in North America and the fastest film to gross $1 billion. The Avengers grossed $1.51 billion worldwide, and became the third highest-grossing film of all time, behind James Cameron's Avatar and Titanic. Trivia *Walt Disney Pictures retitled the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland to avoid confusion with the unrelated 1961 British TV series of the same title, which in turn had its own similarly titled movie adaptation. The film was retitled Avengers Assemble, after the popular catchphrase from the comic books. The reaction to the title change was mixed. *Tony Stark mentions Life-Model Decoys when Agent Coulson comes to recruit him, saying, "You have reached the Life-Model Decoy of Tony Stark" in order to avoid him. *In a scene[5] ultimately deleted from the final film, Steven Rogers is shown reviewing files related to the Avengers Initative. Among them are files on the deceased Howard Stark, a retired Peggy Carter and a deceased James Falsworth. *When Tony Stark invites Bruce Banner to the Stark Tower, Banner declines saying, "Thanks. But the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem." This is a reference to his battle with the Abomination in the final act of The Incredible Hulk. *A post credits scene was filmed on the 12th of April (after The Avengers world premiere). It features the six Avengers eating at the shawarma restaurant mentioned by Stark. Chris Evans had to wear a prosthetic face mask to hide his beard growth and further conceals the mask behind his hand as he eats. Due to the late filming of this scene it was not ready for the international release on the 25th, and therefore does not appear on The Avengers presentations in many countries. *During the confrontation between Loki and Captain America, Rogers states that the last time he was in Germany he had a disagreement with a man in power standing high above everyone else. It is likely that he was referring to a confrontation he may have had with either fascist dictator Adolf Hitler or his own archnemesis the Red Skull.[7] *''The Avengers'' is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be released by Walt Disney Pictures. Four of the preceding Marvel Studios productions (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger) were released by Paramount Pictures and The Incredible Hulk was released by Universal Studios. The Paramount logo appears on Avengers posters and the film's opening titles as part of the deal between Disney and Paramount. Walt Disney Pictures is not credited until the final moments after the credits. *According to director Joss Whedon, Scarlett Johansson's participation in the film was in question early in the film's development. Because of this, Whedon's original script for the film included Wasp in her place. Gallery External Links & References Category:Movies Category:Films Category:Sequels Category:Iron Man Franchise Category:Marvel Cinematics Universe Category:Marvel Universe Category:Iron Man Universe Category:Iron Man Cinematics Universe Category:Marvel Franchise Category:Earth-199999 Category:Iron Man Related Films Category:Iron Man Based Films